Alna still has all three of its selectmen and may be close to having someone to plow the town’s roads next winter, after the board’s latest meeting on Sept. 3. Just over a week earlier, voters called on selectmen to go with another contractor, and two board members talked about possibly resigning.

There was no talk of resignation at Wednesday’s meeting that filled the board’s meeting room and part of another. Selectmen accepted no public comment.

Second Selectman Jonathan Villeneuve said he has supported the board’s conversational meeting style for three and a half years, but, only for that night, foregoing the public comment would, for him, reflect voters’ refusal Aug. 25 to let a representative for Hagar Enterprises speak at a special town meeting.

Villeneuve said the residents who turned out Aug. 25 passed an ill-informed, illegal amendment to the board’s request for more money for snow removal. A Maine Municipal Association lawyer later said the amendment appeared to void the subsequent vote for selectmen to hire the town’s most recent plowing contractor, Hanley Construction. The Bristol firm did not enter a bid, and before the Aug. 25 vote, selectmen had awarded the work to the only firm that did — Hagar Enterprises of Damariscotta.

“I don’t think (the special town meeting) reflected what we want Alna to go down as,” Villeneuve said. “We’d be a bunch of back-stabbing individuals ... I’m not going to be a part of that.” Those attending the board’s meeting could write selectmen with any comments, he said.

Fire Chief and former road commissioner Mike Trask, who had proposed hiring Hanley Construction, was among the attendees. Asked for comment afterward, Trask said, “I wasn’t happy about everything that went on in there, but I probably don’t have too much to say because the selectmen didn’t want to hear it.”

During the meeting, First Selectman David Abbott reiterated his criticism for voters’ attempt to have the board hire Hanley Construction. By the time figures were floated for a possible contract with that firm, Hagar Enterprises’ bid was already public knowledge, Abbott said.

Selectmen unanimously agreed to give Hagar Enterprises a new offer that makes the contract’s second and third years dependent on residents’ approval at the March 2015 town meeting. The board agreed to give the firm a week to review the offer, at the request of vice president and co-owner Seth Hagar.

Before the board’s vote, Hagar cited concerns the firm has after last month’s special town meeting. Even if the firm paved the roads with gold and heated them, some people might have issues, he told selectmen.

“Do we have concerns that we’re going to be under extra scrutiny? Most certainly .... We worry about that. We take a lot of pride in what we do. We take the commitment very, very seriously, and it’s a worry for us that as a result as a particular faction or group in town that the town meeting will go awry in March.”

If voters in March turn down the contract’s remaining two years, the firm would have already put thousands of dollars into equipment, Hagar said.

“We view this as a long-term commitment to the folks and the citizens of Alna,” he said.

The board set a special meeting for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10, to continue work on and possibly sign a deal with Hagar Enterprises, if the firm says yes.

Selectmen also expect to discuss how to fund any payments the current snow removal funds, of about $137,000, don’t cover. Hagar said he may be able to offer the town some cost-saving measures to build into the contract. The firm’s bid was for $191,000 the first year; however, partly due to Alna’s budget year that starts in February, payments to contractors do not always fall in a single year.